Cordage yarn and method for producing same



July 14, 1931. J. A. PALMER 1,814,958

CORDAGE YARN AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME Filed April 20. 1927 Patented July 14, 1931 UNETED STATES PATENT @FFKIE JOHN A. PALMER, OF AUBURN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO COLUMBIAN ROPE COMPANY, OF AUBURN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 013 NEW YORK Appiicationfiled April 20,

This invention relates to improvements in cordage structures.

One object of the invention is to produce what is believed to be a new type of yarn from vegetable fibers in that said yarn is a unitary structure and has a'plurality of lines of difi'erent color extending throughout its length. Cordage elements having lines of different color extending throughout its length have heretofore been produced but they have been produced by first spinning or otherwise forming a number of groups of fibers into a plurality of fibrous yarns or structures corresponding to the number of colors described in the finished product after which these several yarns or bodies have been incorporated into a composite fibrous structure. In the present instance, however, this preliminary step of spinning or combining fibers into a number of independent groups is entirely eliminated, the finished yarn constituting the subject matter of the present invention having any desired number of colors in a single unitary structure.

A further object contemplated is a novel method of producing a unitary yarn structure having distinct lines of color extending throughout its length. The feature of particular importance in the present method is that it is a continuous process. In other words, the fiber, in sliver form, is impregnated with the desired colors and spun into a unitary yarn structure in a continuous operation.

Another object of the invention is to produce a machine with which the yarn having a unitary body with which lines of difterent color extending throughout its length may be made with a continuous operation.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein there is disclosed one form of apparatus for producing the yarn heretofore described:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, a portion of the spinning apparatus proper being more or less diagrammatically illustrated.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

In accordance with the present invention the finished yarn is a unitary structure in that only one spinning or twisting operation 1927. Serial No. 185,198.

is performed on the sliver, this spinning or twisting operation being the one that is per formed by the spinning machine now commonly employed in the rope-making industry for the production of ordinary yarns.

In the preferred method of producing this unitary yarn structure the sliver is divided into a plurality of groups corresponding in number to the number of colors desired in the finished yarn. Each group of slivers is then run through one of a series of reservoirs containing the desired colored dyes and from said reservoirs the slivers are run to the gill pins of the traveling gill bars ofthe ordinary spinning apparatus, whereby said groups of slivers are fed from the reservoir to the spinning elements proper of the spinning machine. While engaged by the gill pins the fibers'of thesame color are main tained more or less separate from the fibers of other colors but the several groups of fibers are spun together into a unitary yarn structure. However, by having maintained the sliver of one color segregated from those of other colors, distinct lines of different color will appear in the finished yarn structure. In this I way, a multi-colored yarn having lines of different colors extending throughout its length is produced by one spinning operation, said spinning operation together with the dyeing operation being a continuous onewhereby a single means may be utilized for feeding the groups of sliver from the dyeing portion of the apparatus to the spinning portion thereof.

In the form of apparatus shown herein for carrying out this method of producing a'unitary multi-colored yarn structure there is supported from the spinning jenny frame one or more rollers over which the groups of sliver 11 pass to reservoirs 12 each of which contains one of the coloring dyes desired in the finished yarn. Each group of sliver passes through a former 13 and beneath the roller 14 in its reservoir 12 whereby it is immersed in the dye in said reservoir so as to be come saturated therewith. In order that the dye solution may be maintained at a constant consistency it may be fed to reservoir 12 from the supply tank 15 by a pump 16 through a pipe 17 adapted to discharge into reservoir 12. The solution in reservoir 12 returns to supply tank 15 by an overflow return pipe 18. The solution in the supply tank 15 is preferably heated by some suitable means (not shown) and by having a constant flow of solution to and from reservoir 12 it is maintained at a proper temperature and consistency.

From roller 14, the groups of sliver pass through confining means 19 and thence between rollers 20, 21 which are adjustable toward and from each other whereby pressure on the sliver may be regulated so as to express therefrom any desired quantity of the dye solution taken up by the sliver during its passage of the reservoir. In the present instance roller 20 is journaled in a bearing slid a'bly retained in the frame of the machine, said bearing being adjustable by means of the screw 22. From rollers 20, 21 the groups of sliver are fed to the gill pins 23 on the travel ing endless series of gill bars 24 of the spinning jenny by which they are carried to the nipper 25. They are then spun into a unitary yarn structure by the usual spinning elements of the spinning machine. This portion of the structure may partake of any of the forms now commonly found in the ropemaking industry and are not, therefore, shown in detail herein. For the purposes of the present invention it is only deemed necessary to illustrate diagrammatically the usual flier frame 26, the bobbin 27, and the capstan pulleys 28, all suitably mounted on the sup- I porting frame 29.

As will be noted in Fig. 1, suitable guiding means are interposed between the gill pins and each pair of dye pressing rollers 2O, 21 whereby each group of fibers is maintained more or less segregated from the other groups of sliver so that distinct lines of different colors will be produced in the finished yarn even though the latter is a single unitary structure as distinguished from the yarn made up of a plurality of individually spun groups of sliver twisted together. These guiding means may take any desired form, being shown in the present instance in the form of what is known in the industry as confiners.

So far as the ultimate product is concerned, it will be appreciated that the dye reservoirs 12 need not necessarily be mounted on the spinning jennyframe so as to permit the sliver to be dyed and spun in one continuous operation. Such an arrangement is, however, preferred to others such as initially dyeing the fibers and then running the dyed fibers into slivers which may subsequently be delivered to the spinning apparatus. The essence of the present invention is the multicolored unitary yarn structure. It will also be understood that the present invention, so far as the mnlti-color feature is concerned, is not limited to any particular kind of-fibers or to any particular form of apparatus except as expressly defined in the appended claims.

In a further effort to distinguish the pres ent invention from prior structures, it might be added that applicant does not lay claim to any method, apparatus or yarn structure, wherein the fibers or other material is divided into separate groups and said groups separately twisted to form distinct bodies which are subsequently united or twisted together to form a composite structure as in the Hartshorne Patent N 0. 1,313,594, of August 19, 1919.

lVhat I claim is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a unitary body of fibers formed into a spun yarn with all the fibers lying substantially parallel to one another in spirals around a single axis, said fibers being of different colors with fibers of the same color grouped together in the yarn to form distinct lines of color extending parallel to each other continuously throughout the length of the yarn.

2. A continuous process of producing a multi-colored yarn which consists in forming a plurality of groups of straight parallel fibers, applying different colors to said groups, and simultaneously spinning all of said groups into a yarn having a unitary body with all the fibers extending spirally around a single axis and with distinct parallel lines of different colors extending continuously throughout the length thereof.

JOHN A. PALMER. 

